Means for the detection of electricity



Oct. 25, 1932. I H. E. .wool-DRING 1,834,950.

' MEANS Eon- THE DETEcTToN oF ELECTRICITY Filed June 27. 1930 ATTORNEY Patented oci. 25, 1932 y v.uN-111.11) STATES v1'n4'rr-N'r o1-Fics nunna'r- E. woonme, or DENVER, coLonAno v MEANS FOB 'IlHE'DETECTION lOl'i ELECTRICITY application mea :une a?, iaao. sei-m1 no. 464,387.

My invention relates to means fol-,detecting the presence of an electric current or potential more particularly to means for de- 4tecting the presence of an electric current or potential in high `voltage lines whether the same be insulatedor not, and it consists in the constructions, arrangements and combinations herein shown and described.

It is common knowledge that every year many workers and others are injured. or fatally burned by contact with electric conductors of both high and low'voltage, such accidents particularly happening to employces of electric power companies who work in the sub-stations and similar depart- -ments of said electric power companies emhigh voltage. A great number of Ployng these accldents also occur when linemen are on high voltage' and other lines 1n theield. These disasters takevplace because there is no means for the workers or others to determine the presence of velectricity in a conductor such as wire without subjecting themselves to possible contact with such wire, after which, of course it'is'too late, as the damage has been done by said contact. Itis therefore a primary purpose of myinvention to provide a means 'for automatically determining vthe presence and the degree of strength ofa'n electrical current or potential in a 'line or similar conductor 'withoutpossiblesubjection of the body of the operator to contact with said line or conductor, thereby to reduce or eliminate the number of accidents attributal to failure to ascertain the presence or absence of an electric current or potential in a conductor.

It is a further object of my invention to rovide a device of the type described which 1s operable whether brought into contact with working the conductor or merely brought into'l prox# imity therewith.

A still further object of my invention is to provide, a device of the type described which has few parts, is simple to manufacture and does not get out of order easily.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the speciication proceeds and the inven- .tion will be more particularly defined in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing forming a -part lof this specification, in which;

Figure 1 is an elevational view of my device 1n operation;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of my device, with parts thereof shown in elevation for clearness of illustration;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view ofmy device' Fi ure 4 is an elevational view of a modi# tied orm of my device; and A Figure 5 isan elevational view of a further modified form of my device..

In carrying out my invention I provide au elongated tubular member 1 composed of an insulating material of high dielectric quality. This tubular member 1 has a handle portion 2 for the reception of portions of the device and for en agement with the hand of an operator, a ared portion 3 through which a signal is given to said operator by means soon to be described, and a reduced portion 4 between the portions 2 and 3 for facilitating operation as will soon be described.`

In the end ofthe handle2 a cap member 5 is secured in any suitable fashion to form a chamber 6 in said handle 2, which chamber is provided with an open end 7,for a purpose soon to be described. This cap member 5 is also formed of insulating material of high dielectric quality, thus providing a suitable portion vof my device for enga ement with a loop 8 whch loop acts as a hand e to be engaged by thehand o an operator or a stick as desired during the operation. v

In the chamber. 6 I mount an electric absorbent member 9,' which may be an iron core, a copper core, etc. which I referably use in my device. This electric a sorbent is held securely in the chamber '6 by means of the cap member 5 and the shoulders 10 of said chamber. It is provided to act as a ground or electric current absorbentand to also increasethe strength of the magnetic field when brought into the presence of electric currents for purposesv which will soon be made clear.

Anchored or sunk in thiselectrical absorbent 9 is an electrical conductor 11 which may be formed of copper or any other suitable material, and which orms one of the terminals of a rare gas lamp globe 12, such as a neon `mediately adjacent the wire. operate with great emclency also if placed in' lamp. The other terminal of this neon lamp 12 is indicated. at 13 and will be seen from an examination of Figure 2 to project outwardly from the globe a short distance to terminate in spaced relation with the electrical absorbent 9 and other portions oi the device. This rare gas or neon light as is also clearly seen from Figure 2, is situated substantially at the apex of the conically dared portion 3.

For relecting the rays of light from the rare glass lamp 12, when the same is operated, the inner surface of this conically-tlared portion 3`has secured therein a reflector 14- which reflects the rays oi the lamp as is easily underu stood..

In using my device for determining the presence or absence of an electrical current in a conductor the operator by means off a stick projecting through the loop 8 or by engagement with said loop 8 or handle 2 with his hands places the device in proximity to the conductor such as the wire 15 with the reduced portion l of the device preferably im- The device will parallelism with the conductor. Inasmuch as high voltages and other voltages are transmitted by alternating currents my device will thus be introduced into a changing magnetic field about thewire 15 caused by the flow of said alternating current.

This chan ing magnetic eld will cause currents to lgow in the electrical conductors 11 and 13 of the rare gas lamp 12 in accordance with the well known physical principle which needs no explanation- The current induced in the terminal 11 will be greater than that induced in the terminal 13 due to the presence of the electric absorbent 9 which may increase the magnetic iield about said wire 11. The current of terminal 11 also, will be absorbed in this electric absorbent and dissipated in the form of a magnetic ield in and about the sama v The situation of the conductors 11 and 13 in close proximity .to one another causes the same to act as a condenser between those adjacent pgrtions immediately outside of the neon tu 12.

The above construction thus causes a current to flow through the terminals 11 and 13 to ignite the lamp 12, current flowing from terminal 13 to terminal 11 and through the portions acting as the condenser. This ignition of the lamp 12 is reflected to the operator by the reflector 14 thus indicating the presence of a current in the line 15' having a suiicient voltage to create a magneticfield of great enough magnitude to light the lamp. The device may be so constructed and graduated as to light only upon the presence of a voltage of a predetermined degree in the wire 15 and the amount of voltage may be determined by the brightness of the lamp.v

In assuring safety to the operator and for determining the amount of voltage present the device may be iirst tested on a known voltage then put in proximity with the unknown voltage and again tested on a known voltage, thus assuring operation of the device with a consequent true indication of the presence or absence of the current.

In Figure l I show a modified form oi my construction which is adapted to have the terminals of the lamp 12 positioned in parallelism with the line 15 with greater ease to the operator., This is accomplished by bending one of the terminals, as indicated at 16, to a position substantially at right angles to the position occupied by the lamp and then connecting the same to the electric absorbent asbefore. 'Ihe other terminal is leit as in the former device. When the lamp is placed in parallelism with the conductor more of the terminals are cut by the magnetic held and a greatercurrent is induced than when the conductors are placed at a normal to the wire. Of course in this form of the invention the casing for the device must be bent at the reduced portion and the ared member 3 placed at right angles to the handle in the casing of the core 9. 'lhe construction of this casing can be easily un derstood from an examination of' Figure 2 and need not be further described.

The operation of this form of the invention is substantially smilar t-o that form shown in Figure 2 the operator bringing the handle (not shown) of the casing 'about the core of this modified form into proximity with the conductor and at right anglestherewith in the same manner in which the prior form is brought into engagement with the wire as shown in Figure l. rllhis of course, as can be easily understood positions the lamp 12 in parallehsm with the conductor and the terminals 13 and 11 also in parallelism.

In Figure 5 I show a further modified form in which both the terminals 11a and 13a are grounded in the core 9. The lamp 12 is the same as in the modification of Figure 2 and need not be further described.

The operation of this form of the device is substantially the same as that of Figures 1 and 2, with the exception that the condenser action is omitted.

It is thus seen that I have provided a means for detecting the presence or absence of an electric current or potential of a conductor which enables an electrical worker to easily .and certainly determine the presence or absence of an electric current or potential without contacting the conductor of said electric current or potential and with consequent small danger to himself of electrocution or serious injury.

vIt is also seen that I provide a device which A'ai Ill-0 is simple to manufacture and ecient in operation.

I claim:

1. A means for determining the presence.

5 or absence of an electricv current or potential in a conductor comprising a signal adapted for actuation by an electric current and means for causing -a flow of electric currentv through said signal for the actuation l thereof upon the placing of said means in the magnetic field inducedby a current or potential in said conductor, said means consisting of a pairof conductors forming the terminals of said signal and positioned in close prox- 15 imity to one another to act as a condenser upon the flow of an induced current therethrough.

throu h said lamp will be effected' when broug t into the magnetic field of said first named conductor.

6. A means for detecting the presence of an electrical potential comprising a lamp having I0 electrical conductors formed in the terminals ythereof and electrical energy absorbent ma- .terial engageableabout a portion of one of said conductors, said conductors being adapted to act as a condenser when brought into 75 the magnetic field produced by the potential for causing a iiow of` current through said lamp.

d HUBERT E. WOODRING.

2. A means for determining the presence or absence of an electric current or potential in a conductor comprising a signal adapted 'for actuation by an electric current and means for causing a ow of electric current through said signal for the actuation thereof upon the placing of said means lin the magnetic iield induced by a current or potential in said conductor, said means consistingA of A a pair of conductors forming the terminals of said signaland placed in close proximity to one another to ct as a condenser, one of said conductors having a core of electrical energy absorbent material associatedltherewith to increase the induced current as well as for abl sorbing current froi'nsaid conductor. v

3. Means for detecting the presence or absence of an electric current or tenti'al in a conductor comprising a casing aving a handle portion and a iiared portion, a lampA positioned at' the substantial a x of said ilaredportion for reflecting the rays of 'said lam and means in said handle connected to sai lamp for the induction .of current through said laml upon being brought into the ma etic fiel causedby a current or po- 5 tential in said conductor.

4. Meansy for detecting the presence' of aor potential'in a conductor comcurrent pri a lamp and means for inducing the lcurrent to owthrou h said lamp from the magnetic field crea by the current or po tential the conductor comprising conductors projectingfrom said lamp, one of lsaid conductors having a free end and the other flared portion, a reflector, positioned in said of said conductors being bent at right angles: to said lamp for facilitating the positioning a lamp,-

vius

about portions of f l erebya ow of current 

